Ohio State football: Cody Simon could have a breakout year

The Ohio State football team will have a new crop of linebackers this season and that allows several players an opportunity for some playing time. Cody Simon could be one of them.

The Ohio State football team will have plenty of new faces at linebacker this season. How the linebacker unit looks in the 2021-22 season is pretty unclear right now. The “bullet” position, which is essentially a hybrid safety-linebacker position, has been mentioned this offseason. Craig Young and Kourt Williams could split time at the bullet position. If Ohio State uses this hybrid position heavily this season, this basically leaves two traditional linebacker spots.

There would be plenty of players vying for these two spots. These players would include Dallas Gant, Teradja Mitchell, K’Vaughan Pope, Tommy Eichenberg, Cody Simon, and possibly Palaie Gaoteote IV.

Gaoteote is mentioned as a possibility because there still has not been a clear announcement if the former USC Trojan has transferred to Ohio State. Even without Gaoteote, clearly five players vying for two starting positions could lead to many possibilities. Of course, the Buckeyes will likely heavily rotate their linebackers as they usually do.

One Buckeye linebacker to keep an eye on is Simon. Simon was a highly-rated recruit coming out of the 2020 class. According to 247 Sports’ Composite rankings, Simon was a four-star inside linebacker ranked 75th nationally and fourth at his position. National recruiting analyst Brian Dohn of 247 Sports had a lot of good things to say about Simon,

"Good frame with length. Can hold 10 more pounds easily. Athletic and quick. Ran a 4.53 in 40. Changes direction well and is physical. Highly productive player who excelled against best teams. Accelerates to top speed in few steps. Has shown plus body control. Sound tackler. Diagnoses plays well. Has good closing speed. Plays well in traffic. Can disengage. Good in coverage depth. Needs to show he can cover running back out of backfield. Increasing upper body flexibility important. Multi-year starter at high-level program. Day Two NFL draft pick."

Currently, Simon has the ideal size for a linebacker at 6-foot-2 and 232 pounds.

At times, Ohio State has clearly had some speed issues at linebacker in the past couple of seasons. Pairing Simon with another speedy linebacker like Gant could be very exciting. This would give the Buckeyes two linebackers capable of running a 40 time in the 4.5s. Simon would also pair nicely with Mitchell. Mitchell could be the traditional run-stuffing linebacker, while Simon is the athletic do it all linebacker.

Simon could be considered a dark-horse candidate to snag a starting position. However, it seems to be a very real possibility and it wouldn’t come as a huge shocker. Simon is only a Sophomore, but he has received praise pretty consistently.

There were several injuries in the Ohio State linebacker room this spring. Gant dealt with a foot injury, and Mitchell Melton has been dealing with an injury Ryan Day described as “long-term”. These injuries opened up more playing time for Simon in the spring. The Sophomore linebacker took advantage of the opportunity by playing well in the Spring Game and was even seen in the first-team unit alongside Mitchell.

Even if Simon isn’t named a starter, he should see the field pretty consistently. Overall, Simon is a very intriguing Ohio State football player to watch. He is young as a sophomore and is a freakish athlete. With significant playing time this fall, Simon could be in line for a breakout season.